Wednesday 25 February 2009 10.39 EST
First published on Wednesday 25 February 2009 10.39 EST

A week ago in London, a delegation of competitors from various sports held talks with the World Anti-Doping Agency over its new code for drug-testing. Since 1 January, competitors in athletics, football, cricket and tennis – among others – have been obliged to provide details of where they can be located for a one-hour period each day, seven days a week, between 6am and 11pm.

It has, many claim, become intrusive upon their training regimes and personal lives. "Lacking in focus," asserted the British Athletes Commission, which represents many of the UK's Olympians. "Draconian," bemoaned Andy Murray, after an early wake-up call at his home. Wada argues that it is the only way to eliminate cheating in sport. And while those roused from their beds at dawn to provide the necessary might grumble, there is dissent only at the precise mechanisms of the testing programme, not at its objectives.

Testers and the tested alike might cast an envious eye at their well-rested counterparts in the NBA. Under an agreement between the league and its players' association, samples are taken only at practices or games. Critically, the regulations call only for four summonses per season, unless there is due cause or suspicion. The obligation kicks in on the opening day of training camp in October and ends when a player's team begin their summer break. There's no need to let the authorities know which six-star hotel in the Caribbean they're off to then and no requirement to document their schedule three months in advance.

It would appear to be a system open – if you'll pardon the pun – to abuse. But would the NBA commissioner, David Stern, be open to embracing Wada's position that the only way to achieving clean competition is to have year-round strict vigilance?

"I'm not sure I would support it," he said. Stern is not a fan of Wada, particularly when Dick Pound was banging its drum. "There's a little too much holier-than-thou stuff going on," added Stern. "And we think our players have stepped up and done the right thing with us. And although we will continue to work with them to improve it, we are not on some kind of a witch-hunt."

Stern does concede that maybe six checks per season might be more effective. But getting that signed off might be problematic. As one league source told me: "It's OK for the Olympic sports. They don't have a union to deal with, even if ours is pretty good." At the very least, he can argue, matters have improved since the most recent bargaining agreement began in 2004. Before that, veteran players were tested only once per year, during pre-season. It was hardly worth the bother.

It is often cited that steroids would have little impact on enhancing a basketball player's powers. "I don't really think it would help you that much," said the Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki. "It's more a skills sport as much as it is strength." It's not like the NFL, where a lot of muscle goes a long way, or baseball where, for example, some random drug picked up in the Dominican Republic might help, say, Alex Rodriguez to bash a few more home runs. Maybe that's why only three players – Matt Geiger, Don MacLean and Soumaila Samake – are known to have been suspended for an infraction since the NBA began its checking process for performance enhancers in 1999.

"We're pretty comfortable that our system is working," said Stern. "There have been some players who didn't make it through that have been disciplined either for cocaine or steroids or, yes, marijuana. And our players, we think, have stepped up pretty well and taken the consequences."

How can he really be so sure? Testosterone is among the performance-enhancing substances on the NBA's test list. According to research, it can be clear of the system within four months. Even if your team go all the way to the finals in June, surely that leaves enough time to escape detection come October?

To the league's credit, it introduced checks and balances at a time when it was still unfashionable. In the 1970s, the NBA was seen as drug-fuelled, the stench of marijuana soiling its reputation. "There were a lot of rumours that hurt the game," acknowledged the LA Lakers coach, Phil Jackson, whose playing career spanned that period. "But serious athletes for the most part really took their business as important." Still, the game reached its nadir in 1986 when Len Bias, a young star, died of a cocaine overdose 48 hours after being selected second in the draft by the Boston Celtics.

Stern was among the first to recognise that a clean sport was good for business. Soft drugs, along with alcohol, may remain a peripheral part of the court culture. However, the league tries to instil, via its Rookie Transition Programme, a message that breaking the rules ain't big or clever.

"It helped us a lot just in knowing to pay attention to the kind of medicines we take," said Oklahoma City's second-year forward Jeff Green. "It makes you aware of what you need to stay away from. The RTP really put us on our heels on that, how we can not get caught in an A-Rod situation."

Nevertheless, the penalties for doing so are light when compared with those handed out in track and field. First-time offenders who test positive for steroids, performance-enhancing drugs, masking agents or diuretics get only a 10-game suspension. It goes up to 25 games second time around and a year for the third. It takes four strikes before you are out. Is that enough? The debate on whether the NBA could one day have its own A-Rod conundrum continues, even if there is no discernible sign that the curse of needles and pills is at hand.

"I was telling some of the players who were discussing it that enhancement has always been used in the history of mankind," said Jackson. "The Brits got gin from the Dutch because the Dutch used it to fight. That's what they fed their warriors. Gin. They fought like madmen because of too many martinis. That's been going on for all of time's existence, this part of the athletic culture: to try and be the best athlete you can be, with the best ability. So I think the NBA has done a great job to try and limit this and get a hold of it from 15 years ago."

But more, much more, could be done to remove any suspicion or doubt. In-competition tests only trap the naive and stupid. What Stern decries as a witch-hunt, others view as a necessary evil in the quest for fair play. That may mean an unexpected knock on the front door of the millionaire mansions but even the fatigued Murray would agree that is better than a knock on reputation, however slight it may be.

Offensive rebounds

• The Great Britain forward Pops Mensah-Bonsu has agreed a deal to join the San Antonio Spurs, according to sources close to the player. The Londoner's form for the Austin Toros of the NBA's development league has caught the attention of general managers and he had a try-out last week with the Toronto Raptors. However, he was held out of the Toros' game on Tuesday night and could make his debut for the Spurs against Portland on Wednesday if the formalities are agreed. Mensah-Bonsu, who began the season with the Spanish club Joventut Badalona, had a brief stint in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks two years ago.

• There have been two intriguing legal cases within the NBA recently, only one of which has been resolved. Both Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks and Jamaal Tinsley of the Indiana Pacers have effectively been sitting idle on paid leave until now rather than being allowed to practise with their respective teams, having fallen irredeemably out of favour. Marbury, who contended he was fined for refusing to play when the Knicks were short-handed earlier this season, has finally reached a settlement that will allow him to leave New York, and now will likely sign for Boston. Tinsley remains persona non grata in Indianapolis thanks to misdemeanours on and off the court. It speaks volumes that, five months into the campaign, no resolution had been found to either distracting stalemate. The days when large salaries were simply written off are at an end.